Archive for June, 2012

Anyone that knows me, whether superficially or not, knows that I love Milwaukee. And if you don't know this about me, I will tell you know. I love that city. I love the people. The architecture. The weather (don't judge.) Anyways, it's a good place.

Things have been a bit rough as of late and every bone in my body was telling me, "Emily. You NEED a vacation." And I did. My parents also realized this and gave me tickets to Wisconsin for my birthday. Hallelujah! I was ecstatic. It had been almost a year and a half since I had been "home."

And so here is just a tiny snippet of my vacation.

Starting top left and going down the list...
1. Within an hour of landing in Wisconsin, I drank a Spotted Cow. Still my favorite beer. (And I'm still cursing the whole no-liquids-on-plane's bit, because I always want to bring cases of this beer home with me.)

2. Conojitos is not a fancy, pretty, nice restaurant by any means. But I love it there. It's super casual (think paper plates) and super cheap ($3 margaritas, anyone?)

3. & 4. Saturday morning brunch at Beans and Barley with Rachel and Heather. These ladies are seriously the coolest, most supportive gals anyone could ask for.

6. I worked at Broadways Paper for years while I lived in Milwaukee. I still think that it was the best stationery store and the best place that I have ever worked. It's not a full trip to MKE without at least stopping by.

7. & 8. Locust Street Days was happening just down the block. And in true Wisconsin spirit, I made sure to get a corn on the cob. Sadly, I missed out on the cheese curds (why did I eat before the festival?!), but I love the sign anyways.

9. & 10. My last night was spent with another great lady, Erika. Her beau grilled up some kabobs and we sat outside, chatting and enjoying the weather for hours.

I saw this gold leaf tray on Design*Sponge a while back and thought that it would work perfectly in my bathroom. I thought I could splurge a little bit, but once I saw how much it actually cost ($98! Eek!), a splurge was not really an option.

So, like with most things, I thought I can make something like that!

I thought rather than doing the exact thing, I'd paint a chevron pattern to work with my shower curtain. I also opted for gold paint, rather than foil to save on cost.

The project ended up costing about $8! Not to shabby, eh? Here's what you need to make your own gold, chevron accessory tray.

A tray: I got this Barbar tray at IKEA. There are also wooden trays at craft stores, but they typically have handles, and I wanted something a little more sleek.

Paint: Any colors will work, however, I used white and Martha Stewart's Gold Metallic Acrylic paint. Martha knows her metallics...

Painter's Tape: I used a 1.5" wide tape, because that was what I already had on hand, but I think 1" tape would have been fun to make more chevrons!

Paint Brush: This clearly needs no explanation.

Water Based Polyurethane (optional): I didn't actually get to coating this tray in poly, but I'd still like to. Water based polyurethane is super nice because it's completely clear (unlike an oil based one that tends to be a bit yellow) and because it's super easy to clean up! It's also seal it nicely so that the paint doesn't start to peel or bubble with the humidity of the bathroom.

Once you have the supplies, you're all set to get to work!

The first thing that you'll want to do it paint your base color. Because the tray was so dark, I ended up putting 3 coats of white paint to get good coverage. Make sure that your paint dried thoroughly before moving on to the next step.

I then cut strips of painter's tape into 3" strips. I lined the tape up on the corners to give it that zig zag pattern. You can eyeball the spacing of your tape guides, or you can add a row right next to the previous one and then peel it off to paint.

Once your tray is prepped, you can paint the accent color. Depending on the paint, you might need to do a couple of coats here, too.

Then peel off the tape and you have your tray!

If you feel like you need it, once the accent color paint is dry you can add a couple of coats of polyurethane to seal your tray.

And that's it! I think it's a nice little accent piece to store a candle, perfume and some fun polishes.